Abstract
ABSTRACT Amorphous-nanocrystalline (a-nc) boron carbide thin films were prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by using ortho-carborane as a single-source precursor for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) application. The effects of deposition temperature (T dep) and total pressure (P tot) on chemical composition, microstructure, stoichiometry and morphology of the boron carbide films were investigated. The TEM results show that the structure of the film is mainly composed of amorphous boron carbide with dispersive nano-grains, which will be able to improve the mechanical properties of the film with relatively low roughness. The hardness of the (a-nc) boron carbide film obtained in this study reached 20.6 GPa, and roughness of 3.21 nm. The deposited films sized 0.2–1.9 μm in thickness with B/C atomic ratio ranged from 0.14 to 3.29. The deposition rate decreased with increasing deposition temperature and P tot, while B/C ratio increased.
Highlights
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has been extensively studied and developed since it is a dependable choice to provide clean and sustainable energy
TEM results show that the structure of films is mainly amorphous boron carbide with dispersive B4 C nano-grains
Boron carbide films were prepared by thermal Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using ortho-carborane (C2H12B10) as a single-source precursor
Summary
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has been extensively studied and developed since it is a dependable choice to provide clean and sustainable energy. Boron carbide is a low Z material with a series of excellent properties such as low density, high thermal neutron capture cross-section, high melting point, high thermal and chemical stability [1,2,3,4,5,6] These properties make boron carbide a potential ablation material for ICF capsules applications. Of the many types of CVD processes, plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has been extensively used to fabricate boron carbide films because high internal energy state of plasma enhances the chemical reaction rate of the precursor. This plasma process could cause damage to the surface of the substrate due to the energetic ions.
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